DTC!!!!!

DTC! DTC! DTC!!!!!! Finally, after 3 WEEKS of having our paperwork lost, it has been found, it has been "authenticated and sealed" and it has been sent to China!!! So now, we are officially DTC (Dossier to China)!  No sweeter words have ever been spoken (so far). :)  A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and thus, from my heart as well.

I cannot tell you how hard it is to work so hard on the things WE can control, only to entrust others with our hard work and have them lose it! And all we could do was sit by and wait patiently for it to be located. SO. INCREDIBLY. HARD. And we haven't even gotten to the point of waiting for our official approval of a specific little girl. I have a feeling that will be a period of time when our home is spotless, the kids rooms are tidy and I micromanage everything. LOL. I'll be sure to let you know when the time comes to start praying for my husband's and kids' sanity!

One thing I must tell you though. In the midst of all of this craziness, in the midst of feeling so helpless and being frustrated with feeling like we were the only ones fighting for our daughter...we have been blessed with an amazing caseworker. She is just as involved, just as frustrated, just as heartbroken over our lost paperwork as we are. She IS fighting with us for our daughter. It would be easy for her to just sit back, not worry, and just let us know that she'll contact us when she has some news. But she calls and emails us regularly, sharing her thoughts, her frustrations over these things. She is empathetic to the fact that I've been losin my ever-lovin mind over here waiting to hear they'd located our paperwork. She understands that for us, it's not just a process, not just a case number...she gets that we are fighting for our CHILD, and that we are already head-over-heels in love with a little girl we have yet to meet. She knows my heart and responds to my heartbreak and frustration and joy with love, patience, excitement and compassion. She is AMAZING. And we are so blessed to have her!

So there will be celebrating at the LaRue household tonight people!! Mama's buying dessert and we are going to mark this milestone off the list in this journey!!!

We are DTC!!!!! *insert big smiles and a happy heart*

A Day to Give

As many of you know, we are right in the middle of adopting a little girl from China. We don't even know her name yet. I'll admit, that's hard. It's even harder when I made it a point to have all of our paperwork in EARLY in the hopes that our dossier (the packet of our entire life!) would be in China before Thanksgiving and we'd be on the waiting list to be matched...only to have our paperwork LOST for nearly 2 weeks at the Chinese Consulate in NY after it was ready. Hhhhhhhh. VERY frustrating. But we got word yesterday that it has been located and is supposed to be picked up by the courier on Monday, returned to our agency on Tuesday and hopefully on it's way to China by Wednesday. Here's to hoping...and not holding my breath. But I digress...

One of the biggest parts of this adoption for us has been the fundraising. The thing is, we are perfectly capable of affording another child in our home on a daily basis. We don't, however, have $35,000+ just sitting around to get her here. I won't go into the issues others have regarding the cost of adoption. I will simply say, "we are NOT buying a baby". There truly are legitimate costs involved. Do they all have to be THAT expensive? Probably not, but I'd say 95% are probably spot on and the other 5% is probably a fee that someone set for their services that could've been less. In the end, it could be a million dollars to get her here and I'd still do everything I could to raise that money. We were led to China for a reason...for OUR daughter. And I'd move heaven and earth to get her here.

We've had 2 hugely successful garage sales with items donated by friends and family. We've sold things we no longer need. We've sold cookie dough. I've sold items I make. We've saved and scrimped and put money aside. We'll put away our tax return and any bonuses my husband gets at work. We've applied for every grant we thought we had a chance to receive. And we're getting close. SO close.

Our final fundraiser was this last weekend. And it was by far my favorite! We partnered with Lifesong for Orphans and Both Hands Foundation. Basically, we located a widow in our area and put together a team of 12 people and their families and spent all day Saturday doing repairs on her home. All of our supplies were donated, as well as the food for breakfast and lunch. All in all there were 29 people and we were able to scrape and repaint the entire exterior of her home, haul of what I originally thought was 6 trailer loads of trees and debris, but actually it turned out I was wrong. It was NINE trailer loads!! We also took care of some routine maintenance on her property, flipped her mattress for her and set up an appointment for a local automotive shop to check out her car!

In joining us, our team committed to sending out letters asking their friends and family to "sponsor" them for the day, much like raising funds for a 5k run for cancer or diabetes. And because all of the supplies were donated, 100% of the support goes to our adoption fund! It's such a beautiful way to raise funds for adoption!!

Below you'll find the video we created from pictures and video clips of the day, just to give you a visual idea of that day. It was LIFE CHANGING.  I wish I could adequately explain it, but there simply are no words that would do the job. Ms Marty gets to remain in her home, we raise funds to help bring our daughter home, and everyone involved has their worldview changed...all because they gave their life away for a day.

Both Hands Video

Check out the video...and feel free to share it via email or facebook as donations are still being accepted for this project!!

Christmas Tree Skirt DIY

Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite traditions we started a few years back. It has come to mean so much to me and the kids absolutely love looking at it every year and reminiscing over years past. It's our DIY Christmas Tree Skirt and it's super simple! We take a rather simple tree skirt we purchase at the store, and we add the kids' handprints, name and year. We usually do this a few days before we set up the tree so it has time to dry overnight, but I have been known to get behind *ahem* and end up doing it as we take the tree down so it's ready for the next year! :)

What you'll need:

• Tree skirt (I usually get mine from Hobby Lobby), it must be somewhat plain so it has room for multiple handprints.
• Fabric paint (I would recommend either silver or gold or even pearl, as these will shimmer well, although any color will do.) It MUST have a small tip on the bottle that enable you to write with the paint.
• Paper plate
• Paper towels
• Small paint brush (I just use one of my 1/2 inch wide artist brushes, but any child's paintbrush would work.)

1. You'll need to spread out the tree skirt in an area where it won't be bothered for about 24 hrs. This is probably the hardest part of the whole process because it may not be easy to find. I use my husband's poker table because it's not used except once a month and his poker room is out of the flow of our main traffic.

2.  Pour about a quarter-size amount of paint on the paper plate. Take one child at a time (I suggest starting with the oldest and going down as you may need to take the youngest to the bathroom yourself to help him/her wash up) and paint the child's hand, being sure to get it thoroughly covered but not globbed up in any area.

3. Instruct child to make a "five" with his/her hand and to NOT MOVE. They need to let you place their hand on the skirt and to remain still while you press their palm and every finger down individually for good coverage. (This is easy to do the older they get but I even have great handprints from when my daughter was 9 months, so it IS doable.)

4. Carefully peel their hand away, hand them a paper towel to wipe off excess and have them go wash up with soap.

5. Now you trace their handprint (as the print itself won't be extremely visible if left alone) and then add their first name and the year either above or below the print. Then move on to the next child until you're done!

6. Allow your skirt to dry overnight just to be safe, then place it around your tree when you're ready and enjoy!

Our children LOVE to look at handprints from years past to compare their size. When one fills up, we simply purchase another one! At this point I plan to give one to each child when they are grown, but I may find some fun way to cut them apart and frame or quilt all of their handprints from years past. Who knows! The possibilities are endless!

Have a blessed Christmas!

Welcome to the Circus!

That pretty much sums up life for us around here! With 4 kids and 1 adoption pending, things can be a little hectic at times!  It really does feel like I'm always juggling one thing or another! But from time to time I get a moment where I can sit down, and read, craft, blog, or otherwise. And it's in these moments I hope to share with you not only a glimpse of what crazy, beautiful, wouldn't-trade-it-for-the-world, chaos looks like, but also a few things here and there that will save you time or money or just give you that sense of accomplishment you need some days.

My posts will be sporadic, sometimes every day for over a week, sometimes once in two weeks. I do it as I have time, while focusing the majority of my time and effort on those that matter most, my family. So check back periodically and feel free to comment or just read...although I'd LOVE to hear from you any time something I've said or shown you helps! Hopefully you'll find a minute or two here and there to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ring-side seats! :)